TSTO Musings About Multi-Events

Another TSTO Thursday and as usual I have some thoughts for you. This time I’m musing about…multi-events. With the latest update hitting our games I thought it was time to weigh in with my thoughts on the infamous new event format. And of course, I’ve got a bunch of thoughts so let’s get to ‘em…

-Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the Multi-Event is here to stay. At least for a little while. The new format was rolled out at Christmas and has stuck around since for major events. (3 multi-event major events so far).

-Yes, a multi-event is still a main/major event in TSTO. Despite what some of you may opt to label it…it’s still a main event. Just before the format/style of play has changed doesn’t mean it’s not still a main event. Some of you may want to go sulk in the corner because it’s not what you wanted, but it’s still a big event in TSTO.
4 weeks long, 20 prizes. It’s still a big deal.

-EA has a history of changing up event formats over the years. This is, at least, the 10th major format change to a main event over the 7 year TSTO history. (with some minor tweaks to the format in-between). That’s HUGE. Compare that to a game like Family Guy. Their main event format has remained the same throughout the 5-year history of that game. EA is doing their best to listen to feedback, keep the game fresh, and make adjustments accordingly.
Do they always listen to the feedback we want them to? Nope. But they do listen to bits and pieces and try to make changes. (For example: For the longest time we complained events were too long…now they’re 4 weeks. But also an example, we’ve been asking since 2014 to bring back Stonecutters like puzzles, and its fallen on deaf ears over there)

-Indulge me here guys and let’s take a minute to go over a brief main event history of TSTO….
Halloween 2012…the first major event of TSTO. An event consisted of no prize track. It basically was collect a special limited-time currency to buy items. And this format stuck around through Valentine’s Day 2013. For Halloween 2012 it was Candy Corn. Christmas 2012 it was Coins. Valentine’s Day 2013 it was Heart Valentines.

Whacking Day 2013…four major events into TSTO…and this is the first time a prize track was introduced. This became the format most of us got used to. Collect event currency to unlock the prizes on the prize track. Typically you had 10 or so prizes to unlock through the entire event. 1 prize track, the entire event to complete it. This event stuck around off and on, with some tweaks, throughout 2013 and 2014. Clash of Clones was the last event where we had this traditional prize track format. With a few exceptions in this time period….

These exceptions took place during Christmas 2013, where the concept of the Wheel (plus the traditional prize track) was introduced. You had the standard 10 prizes on the single prize track, and then you could also collect coins to take a try at the holiday wheel to unlock more prizes.

Valentine’s Day 2014 followed a similar format. Except there was no prize track. Just a wheel to earn decorations, and if you unlocked all the decorations you won a bonus prize.
Easter 2014 was the big one. And one that just about everyone hated. Oh the complaints during that event! Easter had no prize track. Instead it had 3 mystery boxes that you could only unlock if you collected enough of 1 color Easter Egg. It was rough.After Easter 2014 they went back to the regular format until…Halloween 2014. Halloween 2014 was the first introduction of the “Act” format many of you are familiar with. It was also the introduction of crafting.

Then EA did something really crazy for Christmas 2014. Two entirely different updates. Both of which required an app store download. Very different formats, but still fun.
After that we started to settle into a routine. Superheroes 2015 had 3 Acts, Crafting and Level Upgrades.
Then we fell into the traditional pattern many of you are “missing” these days. 3 Acts plus crafting.And now we’re onto the multi-event.

-So what’s the point in me giving you a full rundown of the history of TSTO main events? To show you that this game, much like you, has changed and evolved over time. And it will continue to change and evolve. Don’t like the multi-event? Ok. Give it a few updates and it’ll probably change to something else.

-The other point of going over all of this is the remind you that every time there’s been a format change people have complained. Every. Single. Time. It’s nothing new. And people will continue to complain because that’s the nature of people. 2 months shy of 6 years of TSTO blogging and I’ve heard complaints about everything in this game. And I’m certain I’ll continue to hear them.
I know there are some of you that will complain no matter what because you just don’t like it. Nothing I say will change your mind, I get that.
I’m not going to tell you not to complain, this is a place where a community of TSTO players get together to discuss the game…the good and the bad. Despite what some may say, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine in the world of TSTO. I am however going to tell you to chill out a bit. It’s a game. You may not like what’s happening right now, but odds are something will change over time and you’ll like it again. And if you’re really not happy…uninstall the game. Nothing in life should make you that miserable. Especially not a mobile game.

-So what are my feelings on the Multi-Event format? I like it. I’m a fan. For reasons I’ve outlined before, but I’ll share again.
-No rush to complete each Act. While the Acts won’t unlock until the new week, you can complete them at any time. As the individual (weekly) questlines won’t leave until the event is over.
-20 prizes (actual prizes, not event currency or just a land tiles) available throughout the entire event. Compare that to 10 or 12 actual prizes via previous prize tracks.
-No crafting. I’ve never been a fan of crafting.
-New questlines/content Every. single. week. until the event ends.
-Great storylines. If you actually read the dialogue for this event (and I plan to post the full dialogue for each week as the week closes out for those who missed something), it’s funny and on point. The dialogue makes you feel like you’re watching an episode of the show, and I love that!

Of course, those are my feelings. Yours may be totally different. Maybe you loved crafting. Maybe you loved 1 prize track. Maybe you prefer no prize track. Everyone is different. That’s what makes this place great. It’s also what makes TSTO our favorite game…like us, it evolves and changes over time.

Thoughts? Care to share your own musings? What topic do you think I should tackle in my next musings post? Sound off below, you know we love hearing from you!

I started Halloween with the ghost Hoover cant remember what year that was. I’m glad the length of events has been trimmed to 4 weeks and im not missing crafting in the slightest, but i would like a major event to have a bit more to do. However I appreciate that tsto has to cater for new players who bring revenue to the game.
The mini games and neighbour interactions are definitely what I miss most, and not just finding 3 thieves sneaking around over and over again.

Thanks for all your posts, Alissa! And for this site and community. I think the ratio of players who complain a lot to the players who don’t (and are thankful for this site, love and enjoy the game and are patient with it, and don’t ever feel the need to complain) must be 1:100. So for every commenter being extra negative, just know there’s at least 100 of us who aren’t commenting at all and are happy campers. I will try to be more proactive in communicating the positive stuff I often think but don’t take time to type into comments. I also love the community members in here who share positive or funny comments—thankful for all of you who take the time to do so.

I for one am a huge fan of these new updates… I disliked crafting because most of it is stored stuck in an ever growing inventory that I can’t get rid of… Plus it’s not half as stressful with events like this… So keep em coming… 😁

The 1st major event I ever played was Christmas 2013. I never really hated the wheel as I was a new player at the time. I took it one day at a time.

Easter 2014 was definitely one of the worst major events in Tapped Out history. Total glitch-fest. Plus, too many fences!

While the current multi-event format feels like consecutive mini-events, I don’t miss the grind-fest one bit. My main issue with the original grinding major-events was that there were too long and by the 3rd act, I start to get bored and think to myself “When is this event ever going to be over with?”. It also didn’t help that the prizes themselves were underwhelming. The earlier “3-act” and “grinding” mega-events (like Halloween 2014) weren’t too bad at first.

That Harry Potter (Halloween 2017) event was the worst event I ever played. I logged in every day (every 4 hrs) and I’m was always behind in the prize track! Made no sense! I had to spend donuts to get the last prize (Lord Monty) just before the update that would remove the event. Keep in mind I was still a freemium player at that time as I was unfamiliar with KEM-farming and my XP Bonus was under 300% and I wanted to save as many donuts as possible. In addition, the fight against Lord Monty was ridiculously long. I actually considered quitting the game altogether. Even Easter 2014 didn’t drove me to that point.

The Christmas event that year (where Kang and Kodos try to take over Christmas) was such a fresh breath. One of the last good mega-events. Then it was back to the “3 Act grind-fest” starting with Bart Royale (an ultra-lame major-event that introduced an unpopular blue zone where the player had to put items within the zone to increase the % of event currency). Log in every 4 hrs. Collect currency & grind. Rinse. Rather. Repeat. Yawn.

I liked some of the past events like Stonecutters, the 1st Superheroes, Christmas 2014, and Burns Casinos. They were fun! I would like to see some of the elements from past events like the Stonecutters riddles or the Burns Casino mini-games come back in some form. Also, better neighbor interaction like in the earlier events. Another ideal that occurred in some form in Halloween 2018 (an overall good event, btw) was that some characters had 8hr, 12hr, and/or 24 hr tasks that that earned event currency, in additional to the usual 4 hr tasks. Mix it up!

Thanks for your post, Alissa. I love your musings!
I only started playing on Oct. 2016, so I never had to live the Wheel Horror. But I like both 6-weeks events and multi-events. Maybe multi-events better, since they don’t feel like a drag after the first act 🙂 also for all the dialogues and peculiarity of prizes!

Nice post Alissa,
I’ve been playing for ” only “3 years, so missed a load of the earlier stuff, some of which looks pretty good.
As for today’s format, making it 4 weeks instead of 6 is definitely a plus. However as many have said, maybe a side quest or two would freshen things up a bit.
As you say though who knows what the game will be like in months to come. Looked like the game was dead only a few weeks ago !!!

The thing that I miss most from the major events is not being able to see how your neighbors are doing during the event. I like to be able to compare my score with theirs, and to see who is participating in the event.

I don’t mind the Multi-Event format. I just think it would be more interesting if when you sent the characters on a 4hr task it would be a visual task. I try to keep all my characters on visual tasks, but send x number of characters into a building for four hours, collect and repeat is tedious. Dare I say it? Bart Royale had us send characters to attack the forts and you could see them doing it. I like that aspect instead of send them on a task and imagine what’s happening. That’s what books are for. Video games should be visual.

I rEAlly miss friend interactions. I visit my friends every day and collect the odd donut or two or five but events should allow us to utilize the pseudo-friendships we’ve cultivated over the years.

I do like Blocko Angelica Button, but 250 donuts?! If I weren’t a farmer with thousands of donuts to spare, she would be a hard pass. The design is great (I love LEGO) , the tasks are cute but you really don’t need her to finish the prize track.

We need another item limit incrEAse. We have a lot of great buildings and decorations. I want to display almost everything. I’ve stored most of my duplicates and I still get the warning. I’ve even stored my Springfield Heights 50(the buildings you have to level and display to get the extra 180XP bonus).

I love the game. I’ve been playing for 4 years now. It’s the best game ever. Even the writers are surprised it has lasted 7 years. I’ll keep playing until they stop releasing new content and probably long after (so I can finish designing).

Ultimately what makes TSTO unique is that it is the only place to get interactive content written by Simpsons authors. So while I was a bit irked at first by loss of crafting/friend actions/etc., the multi format gives more and better flowing dialog, so I prefer it. If I want complex gameplay, there are already a million better options., but only TSTO feels like an extension of the show I grew up with.

I like this format. I get a feel of accomplishment every week, and then I get to go off and do other things like the rail yard until the next week starts. I’ve been playing a long time and have never had a neighbor, so I don’t miss interaction but can see why others do miss it. Event or no event, I’m just glad the game is still going.

The moral to this? Some Events are great, some Events suck! I think we’ve been very fortunate as Tappers, especially compared to other Game Apps (I mean Futurama – what a pile of 💩 compared to TSTO ! ), but there is always room for improvement (4 Acts , 1 each Week, no Grinding).

I’m def glad there’s finally a new thing that’s not just, keep sending characters on the same tasks over and over again….

My dream update: somehow TSTO will come up with a way where we can actually enter some of the buildings. So like, we could go into the Simpson’s house or Moe’s bar, or the Kwik-E-Mart and earn different things to decorate/set up each location. I know they got rid of the alternate Krustyland because it forced you to relocate, so I don’t know how this would work. But a dream is a dream.

I really enjoy these type of posts. I’ve been playing since Oct. 2013 & it was fun to go over all the different events over time. I do like the current format,,low stress. I just would like them to throw in a little bit of strategy or friend actions. Just something a little extra would be nice.

I like the format. Just wish theyd add purposeful neighbor visits for the events like these. Even if it was to gain 1 surprise event item…the way they drop you a random donut.
Im just thrilled the game is still here…with new stuff to mess with. Plus im still sifting thru the yearbook….hoping for a safe combo and to avoid those damn whales. Lol

I agree with you. I really don’t understand why the multi-event is such a problem, because for the longest time everyone complained about events being too difficult to finish in time, too time-consuming. And they were right, you’d have to play through the night to be able to do everything. It was exhausting and the reason why I stopped playing for a few years. Multi-event actually gives everyone a chance to have a life.

Thanks Alissa for this great historical overview of event formats. I love your musings posts.

I am less a fan of these multi-event style events although, I can definitely see their value during busy seasons such as Christmas or even right after the holidays when everyone is just coming back to work and getting caught up with things.

In my opinion, an ideal situation would be a combination of the multi-events and the event format we have been using the past couple of years. Perhaps alternating event formats over the course of a year. I never had a big issue with crafting and I do miss friend interactions. I also enjoyed the small amount of pressure that having to earn event and crafting currency provided (although I can see where not everyone enjoyed that).

Eitherway, I still enjoy the game and am glad that we have new content again. Please keep up the good work on this site. Love all you guys and all you do!

I miss the format of crafting only because it felt like a true event to me. I like the month-long events as they give us enough time to complete everything. I just wish they would add more items premium and non-premium. I’m a premium member and I feel like there aren’t enough items in this event to make me want to play. Just my opinion.